Wireless devices or mobile terminals for communication are also known as e.g. User Equipments (UE), mobile terminals, wireless terminals and/or mobile stations. Mobile terminals are enabled to communicate wirelessly in a communication network such as a mobile network, sometimes also referred to as a wireless communications system, a cellular radio system or cellular networks. The communication may be performed e.g. between two mobile terminals, between a mobile terminal and a regular telephone and/or between a mobile terminal and a server, such as server providing video streaming service, via a Radio Access Network (RAN) and possibly one or more core networks, comprised within the communications network.
Mobile terminals may further be referred to as mobile telephones, cellular telephones, computers, or surf plates with wireless capability, just to mention some further examples. The mobile terminals in the present context may be, for example, portable, pocket-storable, hand-held, computer-comprised, or vehicle-mounted mobile devices, enabled to communicate voice and/or data, via the RAN, with another entity, such as another wireless device or a server.
A cellular communications network covers a geographical area which is divided into cell areas, wherein each cell area is served by a base station, e.g. a Radio Base Station (RBS), which sometimes may be referred to as e.g. eNodeB (eNB), NodeB, B node, Base Transceiver Station (BTS), or AP (Access Point), depending on the technology and terminology used. The base stations may be of different classes such as e.g. macro eNodeB, home eNodeB or pico base station, based on transmission power and thereby also cell size. A cell is the geographical area where radio coverage is provided by the base station at a base station site. One base station, situated on the base station site, may serve one or several cells. Further, each base station may support one or several communication technologies. The base stations communicate over the air interface operating on radio frequencies with the wireless devices within range of the base stations. The base stations and wireless devices involved in communication may also be referred to as transmitter-receiver pairs, where the respective transmitter and receiver in a pair may refer to a base station or a wireless device, depending on the direction of the communication. Two mobile terminals involved in D2D communication may also be referred to as a transmitter-receiver pair. In the context of this disclosure, the expression Downlink (DL) is used for the transmission path from the base station to a wireless device. The expression Uplink (UL) is used for the transmission path in the opposite direction i.e. from the wireless device to the base station.
Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile communication system, which evolved from the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and is intended to provide improved mobile communication services based on Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) technology. UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) is essentially a radio access network using wideband code division multiple access for communication with terminals. The 3GPP has undertaken to evolve further the UTRAN and GSM based radio access network technologies.
In 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE), base stations, which may be referred to as eNodeBs or even eNBs, may be directly connected to one or more core networks.
Today's mobile terminals are often so called smartphones in which several mobile applications, also referred to as apps, are installed, such as e-mail, twitter, Facebook, etc.
A mobile application is a computer program designed to run on mobile terminals such as smartphones and tablet computers etc. Most such mobile terminals are sold with several applications bundled as pre-installed software, such as a web browser, email client, calendar, mapping program, and an app for buying music or other media or more apps. A large number of applications are available to be downloaded from servers many of them free of charge, e.g. social applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Viber etc.
Often mobile network congestion is observed during big events, such as concerts or football games, when thousands of mobile terminals in close geographical proximity simultaneously download and upload data such as status, photos, videos of the event, or group chat about the event etc. to their social webpages from their mobile terminal applications. This results in a mobile network congestion leading to decreased usability of the mobile applications. In extreme cases of network congestion, the perception is that it becomes no longer possible to use the mobile applications.
Thus, there is a need to improve the usability of mobile terminal in such situations.